1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an air conditioner for an automotive vehicle which conditions air in a vehicular cabin. More specifically, the invention relates to an automotive air conditioner which is capable of temperature control for conditioned air to be discharged to the front and rear portions of the vehicular compartment independent of each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, various automotive air conditioning systems for maintaining comfort in vehicular cabins, which include a heater unit, a cooler unit and an air mix chamber, have been proposed and put into the market.
Conventionally, in automotive air conditioning systems, temperature of conditioned air is controlled by adjusting amount of air to be passed through a heater core in the heater unit by adjusting an air mix door's angular position. The conditioned air is mixed in the air mix chamber and discharged into the vehicular cabin through a front vent and a rear vent. Recently, in order to better control the distribution of the air in the vehicular cabin, systems in which the temperatures of the conditioned air discharged from the front and rear air discharge outlets, are controlled independently.
One such automotive air conditioner has been disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model First Publication (Jikkai) Showa 58-79414.
The above independent temperature control automotive air conditioner has front and rear paths which are defined, by a partition wall or an air flow guide. The conditioned air is discharged through the front vent or the rear vent selectively by a separation door which is provided on the partition wall. However, the construction of this air conditioner is substantially different from that of a standard air conditioner in which paths of front and rear air discharge outlets are not separated from each other. As a result, the control vent assemblies of the two types of unit are not interchangeable. Therefore, two production lines are required in order to produce the two different types of assembly. This is expensive.